IN THE NAME OF TRANSPARENCY, IS LACABE TRYING TO FOSTER FEAR AMONG GROWING ANTI-CASSIDY MOVEMENT AT CITY HALL?
By Steven Tavares
About a year ago, I was having a conversation about Margarita Lacabe, the wife of San Leandro School Board Trustee Mike Katz-Lacabe and propagator of an inquiry into my emails with city councilmembers and city employees. The well-known political consultant I was chatting with and known for his sometimes salty language said she has bigger balls than Mike, if the oftentimes meek school board members had any at all.
Without doing due diligence, her latest escapade adds to her reputation as the Doyenne of Discontent as she attempts to portray herself as the city’s newest investigative blogger under the guise of quelling the most independent voice against Mayor Stephen Cassidy, seems to prove him correct.
Whatever Lacabe’s reasons for requesting emails to and from me to city employees, the former mayor and members of City Council, the intent is clearly to intimidate a rapidly burgeoning amount of discord among city employees against Cassidy’s actions and foster fear of retribution in the event any of them should ponder blowing the whistle against his administration.
Cassidy may deny any role in Lacabe’s actions to dig for information given to me by city officials and employees, but make no mistake, Cassidy’s inner circle worked diligently to get him elected and have increasingly shown a fervor to remake San Leandro in the eyes of a sometimes competing band of liberals in the San Leandro Hills.
Very few in San Leandro have been able to dodge a conflict with the notoriously unstable Margarita Lacabe who has brought her brand of hubristic opinions to her own San Leandro blog. Apparently, she is also a self-made media expert who frequently uses the phrase, “I think” to punctuate her points. Incidentally, does the Katz Family have a bustling newsroom in their basement, or what? What’s the progeny of two hard-working bloggers to do but create their own kid blog and rail against the blatant use of imitation mac and cheese by the cafeteria lady at Roosevelt Elemenetary?
All joking aside, the fascistic use of undermining the press in the name of transparency is a tautology only George Orwell could appreciate. Don’t be fooled, though, despite their sometimes diva ways and self-serving opinions, this group of Cassidy, the Katz’s and their platinum earringed cohort, Tim Holmes, are united in their dislike of city institutions important to many San Leandrans such as the police department. They have pooled their rhetoric to punch holes in its usefulness along with a continued effort to undermine hundreds of city employees under the guise of fiscal prudence. Guess what? Among East Bay cities, San Leandro is sitting the prettiest when it comes to pensions and budget sustainability.
In the end, Team Cassidy is using intimidation to put forth a platform more interested in furthering a possible political career in Sacramento on the backs of creating a template for taming the interests of the working class and unions. Taking a prying eye to the concerns of the detracting opinions of city employees is only part of that mechanism and the real defenders of the truth, you and I, should find these actions as an insidious affront to democracy and the utility of journalists to objectively report the actions of government.
As I have long told the Katz Family bloggers, either be public officials, like you are, or be citizen bloggers. Choose one, but not both because more times than not that unholy alliance is used for political expediency and misinformation. Both of which these startling actions by Lacabe have proven so well.
ebcitizen.com 
Repeat repeat: San Leandro workers had their compensation cut and jobs eliminated for years before Cassidy arrived. If you cut jobs, inevitably overtime will increase.
There are services the city needs to provide, Justin. Public safety is police and fire, but it's a lot of other things. It's also seeing to it that our roads and parks are maintained. It's also seeing to it that homes and businesses are not constructed or altered in ways that create fire or other risks. It's lots of other things that businesses aren't in business to provide.
At the County, State and Federal level, there's a need for government to step in to see to it that everyone has access to health care, food and shelter, among other things. This is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We can afford these things.
As an example of why this is important, I think it's evident to all San Leandrans that if it were left to businesses, we would not have the health care we need. More people would go without enough food. More people would be homeless. More homeless would die.
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“Rockets department? He has been gone for at least 5 years do your homework Justin.”
Public works should be gone along with him Tony. There is nothing there that several businesses around town can't do without dinging us for pensions, overtime and union arm twisting.
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This thread has all the makings of an insane asylum. It would be refreshing if adults posted.
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Speaking of intimidation – it was Mr. Tony Santos who threatened to sue me for libel after I put in a Freedom of Information Act request to see his emails. After I withdrew my request; he withdrew his threat of a lawsuit. If that's not intimidation, then I don't know what is.
Mr. Santos was not smart enough to understand the definition of libel – I nicely tried to explain to him that I did not state something as fact that I knew to be untrue (the legal definition of libel); I merely conjectured about Mr. Santos' stupidity (Which is something that apparently a majority of voters in San Leandro did during the last election).
I'm all for Freedom of the Press and keeping your sources secret; but City Workers should be well aware that their email accounts are supposed to be used for the purpose of city business; and that any correspondence is public domain. If they want to talk to you without the permission of their supervisors on matters not pertaining to their job role; they should at least take the time to use a personal email account. For instance, Yahoo webmail is pretty easy to use – even with the average SL city worker's intellectual capacity.
I have an idea for you Steve – go through all of your emails and publish anything “juicy” on your blog first. You always seem to pre-empt everyone else on the big news stories in San Leandro, so why stop now? Keep up the good work. I think you're the hardest working journalist in town – and I'm amazed at how many comments you continue to get for each new post. 🙂
Frank Lynn
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John – History provided McCarthy was correct and there were Communists and Homosexuals in Congress. So are you stating that you agree that Mr. Tavares is both? And how do you know? Are you one of his financiers and/or romance partners?
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Hello, Ghost of Senator Joe McCarthy!
“At long last, ghost, have you no decency?”
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I think Tavares is scared for the public to find out:
> Evidence he is directly financed by the communist party/unions/other anti-American groups
> Evidence of multiple homosexual romances with city staff/council members
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Rockets department? He has been gone for at least 5 years do your homework Justin.
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I get my salary from my mom with lucky charms! if I go to bed on time and stop harrasing Steven and all the people who post on the citizen. it's a hard compromise but I love lucky charms
Manuel
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In San Leandro the pensions are on base salary and overtime does not count towards their pensions. A little checking could have discovered that fact.
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When Justin ran for office in SL he got very few votes, and SL was more conservative then. He lost by so much, it was laughable! I'm glad there are a few tea baggers left in SL to value his point of view. It keeps the rest of us amused. Here are some facts. The City employees have taken 18 furlough days over the last 2 years without pay. The employees have been reduced from ~400 to ~500 and have paid for half the increases in their health care. They will not have had a raise in 5 years at the end of their contract. They have made concessions in pensions and are trying to do their fair share for the City. Most of those earning over 100,000 are managers and public safety employees. BTW it's cheaper to pay overtime than to hire more employees. P.S. The average Cal-Pers pension is ~26,000 per year.
That is pretty hilarious when I got a greater percent of the vote than you did when you ran for mayor Tony. You need to put down the Sal Alinsky marginalize tactics and deal with reality. I could care less anyway as the voters did me a huge favor. I had more time to spend with my wife and children. Much happier times than trying to figure out why the city spends too much and can't understand that they need to be realistic in these current economic times.
I am glad that the size of city government has been reduced. It should be reduced more–particularly in Rocket's department. All of that could be bid out to private industry and we wouldn't have to worry about pensions and health care costs for even more workers.
They haven't had a raise in five years because their salaries were so much higher than the same postions in private industry that it could well have taken five years for the private industry to catch up—but I doubt it.
I have no idea how you think overtime costs less. In the end it adds to the salary of workers and thus their pensions so it costs more on two fronts.
The rest of this dreck I am going to verify with the current CAFR of the city—they can't lie there by law.
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Well I guess it is a good thing that Cassidy's request for Tim Holmes to have an office at city hall as a “unpaid aide” was rejected.Nobody needs that paranoid freak around city hall.
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Looking at that picture makes me wonder.
Who else thinks those two were beat up a lot in school. But if you would break your hand on Cassidy's nugget.
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it's obvious that you posters don't know me very well because if you did, you would know that nothing you can say can shake my love for Cassidy! I want the world to know that intend have a legal union with him even if we have to go to another state to consumate our love!!
xoxo Manuel
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dull & lazy==manny/Manuel/Paul Vargas
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Oh the babooze's have been hitting the cheap port again. Lay off that .50 special at Dollar Tree. bahahahhahahahaha No originality whatsoever. But then, it's to be expected by the dull and lazy.
Manuel
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whoa manny that's kinda weird….. but it kinda makes sense when you think about it hahaha
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as long as my parents have a spot on the couch for me to sleep and a fresh suply of cheetos for my disposal why would I want to leave? plus they don't judge me for for hanging pictures of Cassidy all over my room and told me it's not wrong to be in love with another man even if he is an over weight sweaty Ginger.
Manuel
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Thers's a thousand ways to balance a budget. One of the ways our City government moved towards a balanced budget in the years before Cassidy took office is by cutting staff and gaining concessions from the City workers. Repeat: San Leandro workers had their compensation cut and jobs eliminated for years before Cassidy arrived.
The chief cause of our City budget problems is the same as our State and Federal budget problems: the financial crisis of 2008. It created a cascading set of devastating revenue losses: first, payroll tax losses from the many firings in all industries, caused by stupid investment firms who were allowed to operate with insufficient regulations. Then followed property tax losses from foreclosures and abandoned new business and residential developments, sales tax losses from millions of people having their disposable income eliminated, and more.
The financial crisis also hurt pension funds badly, since those funds depend on investments. Public pension funds were often funded at or near 100% until recently.
Wall Street, its executives and leaders from banking and investment firms have recovered from this crisis for which they were responsible. The middle class has not. Does this buy you a clue?
Here's the real truth about the craze to cut pensions, a craze which has take in many suckers. Pensions are being propagandized because THE PLUTOCRATS, WALL STREET AND THE BANKS WANT TO STEAL THE PENSION FUNDS.
Public sector workers often choose to take pay cuts and accept increases in their health care payments so that they can avoid large cuts to their retirement income. As far as the City budget negotiations are concerned, there is no difference between gaining money savings from wages, health insurance, pensions, reduction in benefited positions or hours, or cuts outside of City personnel. Money saved is money saved.
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Manuel has a job similar to what he just described, only replace parents with government.
We have a guy here trying to tell us how the city should be run who can't even move out of mommy and daddy's house.
We also know how well he did when he ran for council, so the citizens of San Leandro don't care about his opinion either.
Manuel why don't you partner with fat ass Marga on her blog, someone else no one wants to here.
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Tavares, you really DO have that ignorant mentality. “Irrational Jealousy” you moron, getting screwed in the ass through taxes is not “irrational jealousy”. If anything you must fantasize about getting a government job, sitting on your ass, collecting a paycheck, walking around with a clipboard to look busy then hiding out at Francesco's.
Manuel
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Cassidy did not balance the budget, we are currently working under a balanced budget put in place by the last mayor and council and city manager Hollister.
So Cassidy was lying when he said the city was on the brink of bankruptcy.
And the budget was also balanced with the current pension system
So Cassidy lied about needing to address that.
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I’m saying if you’re a politician who is attempting to scare the voters into believing the entire city is near bankruptcy when it was not, you need to discuss the option currently available now that we know the truth. Nobody is against fiscal responsibility, but the argument is no longer about the false premise of the wheels falling off, therefore, we need to cull city employees of their jobs, benefits and pensions.
When politicians obscure the facts, it takes months, even years for people like me sort the real ones from the false ones and recalibrate the discussion to where it belongs, not about the city on the verge of calamity, but one doing much better than the mayor would attest because doing so would and should dampen his argument.
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Steve,
So you're saying that having a balanced budget is a bad thing; and residents have been “hoodwinked” if they vote for fiscal responsibility (e.g., balanced budget and/or surplus)? And $100K is not “high on the hog” when the average FAMILY income in San Leandro is $50K?
And you're also saying that Cassidy has teamed with the *conservative* fringe? Funny, I don't think Fillipovich and Paul Vargas gave him a mayoral endorsement, did they? Maybe I missed something and Tim Holmes, Mike Katz, and Marga Lacabe and their ilk in SLCAN become rabid conservatives overnight; and maybe Tim Holmes started showing George Will and Pat Buchanan propaganda films at the coffeehouse; and maybe they started advocating that SL schools start teaching creationism.
It's fine to be a pro-employee union shill Steve – but you seem to be living in an alternate reality…
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Just to be clear on one comment, I never “ran” with any story about city employees making $100k and it was not “found” with FOIA, it’s readily available.
I did not write about the so-called $100k Club or the city manager making $200k/yr because I saw it for what it was; a false argument to be made showing city employees are pampered and living high on the hog. This isn’t a point-of-view, but not emblematic of the truth. They are not paid as well as you think and the attack on their service is unfair. Lisitng a few people in a city work force of 400 is totally misleading. Hollister making $200,000 is also a dumb argument. I have contacts in other cities and write about those city governments, I know $200,000/yr is about the going rate in the Bay Area for a city manager. If anything, it’s a bit low.
The question San Leandrans should be asking is: did Cassidy overstate the condition of the city budget to get elected and gain votes by teaming with the conservative fringe who bash their compatriots in city government out of irrational jealousy? He continues to make reference to the city being near to a “Vallejo-style” bankruptcy as a argument for passing the pension obligation to employees. Ask yourself, with a likely balanced budget next year when others nearby cities have million dollar deficits if you were hoodwinked or not.
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silly poster, Manuel never signs with a dash and that is an insult to Gay people.
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I am a homosexual.
-Manuel
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Let's see the most recent CAFR to prove your assertion that the budget decreased.
Manuel
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I've grown to believe that it's not lack of research that has “Manuel” so wrong so much of the time; it's been pointed out to him over and over again. He just likes lying. It shows the rich people and corporations that he will keep on licking their boots, all to help them slash Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and decent pensions for Grandma and Grandpa, and eliminate them for the working person.
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Manuel you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts! The City spent 78 million 08-09, 74 million 09-10, and 70 million 10-11. Look it up before you start ranting, raving, and making up facts based on your opinion. Try doing a little homework before you spout off.
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Are you insane? Don't sit there and tell us that the budget has been “dramatically” reduced when in fact it has increased every year. The budget continues to grow despite the recession. It grows because the City continues to spend more and more. To sit there and attempt to lie to us is quite disengenous. It may work at the bar at Francesco's during Happy Hour but it won't here.
Manuel
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San Leandro employees went from 500 to 400 about a 20% decrease, far more than most cities. They have also suffered huge cuts to benefits and salary compared to most other city,county, or municipal employees. They voluntarily did this to try and help the City during these recessionary times that were caused by Wall Street during the Bush years. The Federal Gov't. bailed out Wall Street, but they didn't bail out Main Street. San Leandro's budget has been reduced dramatically over the last 2 years because their income has been reduced dramatically over the last few years due to the recession.
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Manuel–I've seen you make lots of mistakes too.
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I must be a civil servant too, I can not type accurately. Cover blown! Darn it. See above.
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They meant to say the City went from 500 employees down to 400 now, they reversed their numbers because they are probsbly civil servants and not good with numbers or acounting, LOL.
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I don't get the statement “the employees have been reduced from ~400 to ~500 ” Does this mean that 500 City Employees have vanished? Why does this City need 500 employees?
Manuel
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Shorter “Anonymous”, Jason Agrella and other Tea Party commenters:
“Private sector workers who don't have a Union have rotten pay and working conditions, crap pensions (when they have pensions at all) which will be destroyed by the next stock market crash, and can be fired because the boss wants to hire his own son. I don't want to change any of that- I want everyone else to have rotten jobs too!”
Inspiring.
BTW, you Tea Baggers have some remarkably inconsistent talking points. Public servants making $100K are rich, but raising the tax rate on the income people make above $250K is the end of the Republic, because those people aren't rich and that would be “punishing success.”
You don't care if your arguments contradict each other, or are not historically true, or have no basis in reality. You just plod on, not wishing to see that you're doing the bidding of extraordinarily rich men who would tell their limo driver to speed up at the moment you were having a heart attack in the middle of the street.
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Tavares' “intimidation” argument might have merit if San Leandro city workers were at-will private sector employees who could easily be let go. They're not – they are protected city civil servant union workers. The City Manager just have a contract that must be renewed, but Hollister just resigned making Tavares' point all the more moot.
I think Tavares is jealous of Ms. Katz-Lacabe's blogging skills. And the way he incessantly talks about Mr. Katz; I think he's jealous in a homosexual stalker crush kinda way…
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When Justin ran for office in SL he got very few votes, and SL was more conservative then. He lost by so much, it was laughable! I'm glad there are a few tea baggers left in SL to value his point of view. It keeps the rest of us amused. Here are some facts. The City employees have taken 18 furlough days over the last 2 years without pay. The employees have been reduced from ~400 to ~500 and have paid for half the increases in their health care. They will not have had a raise in 5 years at the end of their contract. They have made concessions in pensions and are trying to do their fair share for the City. Most of those earning over 100,000 are managers and public safety employees. BTW it's cheaper to pay overtime than to hire more employees. P.S. The average Cal-Pers pension is ~26,000 per year.
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Less Motivated City Workers? Can't get any less motivated than what works for the government now. What time is Happy Hour at Francesco's?
Manny
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Thank you for posting Justin, enjoyed your comments and point of view!
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Yes, Tavares, They are wasting time paid for by taxpayers of this city who ELECTED the current mayor. If they have a beef with the city and they are so high skilled as you and your cohorts think they are then they can quit and find another job paying more money somewhere else.
To you a whistleblower is a source for you to write some ridiculous claptrap like this story. These people just collude to extract more money out of the city for themselves and their union in the form of dues. These people aren't whistleblowers—they are disgruntled employees who are complaining about having to pay for their own retirements like everyone else out here—-then we have to pay for theirs on top of it. How defensible is that in this time of economic woes?
I suppose it depends on which frivolous Freedom of Information Act request you like. That is how we found out about the salaries of city employees so they couldn't cry poormouth anymore. You certainly ran with that story. FOIA is a cornerstone of our democracy. If you can't see what they are doing and question it then we are simply subjects. I am surprised that your liberal mindset doesn't understand that.
Lastly, I have no idea who the other city council candidate is that you attracted. However, it is those of us who have run who know what the heck is really going on in city hall and it makes us sick. You sound far angrier than I am. Sounds like someone is disgruntled because they lost their source in city hall—Tony Santos. Too bad. Live with it.
As for old, I am willing to bet that you are older than I am and a hippie to boot. How was it back then smoking dope and singing Kumbaya in the commune?
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Yes, Tavares, They are wasting time paid for by taxpayers of this city who ELECTED the current mayor. If they have a beef with the city and they are so high skilled as you and your cohorts think they are then they can quit and find another job paying more money somewhere else.
To you a whistleblower is a source for you to write some ridiculous claptrap like this story. These people just collude to extract more money out of the city for themselves and their union in the form of dues. These people aren't whistleblowers—they are disgruntled employees who are complaining about having to pay for their own retirements like everyone else out here—-then we have to pay for theirs on top of it. How defensible is that in this time of economic woes?
I suppose it depends on which frivolous Freedom of Information Act request you like. That is how we found out about the salaries of city employees so they couldn't cry poormouth anymore. You certainly ran with that story. FOIA is a cornerstone of our democracy. If you can't see what they are doing and question it then we are simply subjects. I am surprised that your liberal mindset doesn't understand that.
Lastly, I have no idea who the other city council candidate is that you attracted. However, it is those of us who have run who know what the heck is really going on in city hall and it makes us sick. You sound far angrier than I am. Sounds like someone is disgruntled because they lost their source in city hall—Tony Santos. Too bad. Live with it.
As for old, I am willing to bet that you are older than I am and a hippie to boot. How was it back then smoking dope and singing Kumbaya in the commune?
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Yes, Tavares, They are wasting time paid for by taxpayers of this city who ELECTED the current mayor. If they have a beef with the city and they are so high skilled as you and your cohorts think they are then they can quit and find another job paying more money somewhere else.
To you a whistleblower is a source for you to write some ridiculous claptrap like this story. These people just collude to extract more money out of the city for themselves and their union in the form of dues. These people aren't whistleblowers—they are disgruntled employees who are complaining about having to pay for their own retirements like everyone else out here—-then we have to pay for theirs on top of it. How defensible is that in this time of economic woes?
I suppose it depends on which frivolous Freedom of Information Act request you like. That is how we found out about the salaries of city employees so they couldn't cry poormouth anymore. You certainly ran with that story. FOIA is a cornerstone of our democracy. If you can't see what they are doing and question it then we are simply subjects. I am surprised that your liberal mindset doesn't understand that.
Lastly, I have no idea who the other city council candidate is that you attracted. However, it is those of us who have run who know what the heck is really going on in city hall and it makes us sick. You sound far angrier than I am. Sounds like someone is disgruntled because they lost their source in city hall—Tony Santos. Too bad. Live with it.
As for old, I am willing to bet that you are older than I am and a hippie to boot. How was it back then smoking dope and singing Kumbaya in the commune?
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Yes, Tavares, They are wasting time paid for by taxpayers of this city who ELECTED the current mayor. If they have a beef with the city and they are so high skilled as you and your cohorts think they are then they can quit and find another job paying more money somewhere else.
To you a whistleblower is a source for you to write some ridiculous claptrap like this story. These people just collude to extract more money out of the city for themselves and their union in the form of dues. These people aren't whistleblowers—they are disgruntled employees who are complaining about having to pay for their own retirements like everyone else out here—-then we have to pay for theirs on top of it. How defensible is that in this time of economic woes?
I suppose it depends on which frivolous Freedom of Information Act request you like. That is how we found out about the salaries of city employees so they couldn't cry poormouth anymore. You certainly ran with that story. FOIA is a cornerstone of our democracy. If you can't see what they are doing and question it then we are simply subjects. I am surprised that your liberal mindset doesn't understand that.
Lastly, I have no idea who the other city council candidate is that you attracted. However, it is those of us who have run who know what the heck is really going on in city hall and it makes us sick. You sound far angrier than I am. Sounds like someone is disgruntled because they lost their source in city hall—Tony Santos. Too bad. Live with it.
As for old, I am willing to bet that you are older than I am and a hippie to boot. How was it back then smoking dope and singing Kumbaya in the commune?
Seriously? Four times deleted? How about deleting your attack on me then instead of allowing it to stand without debate?
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Yes, Tavares, They are wasting time paid for by taxpayers of this city who ELECTED the current mayor. If they have a beef with the city and they are so high skilled as you and your cohorts think they are then they can quit and find another job paying more money somewhere else.
To you a whistleblower is a source for you to write some ridiculous claptrap like this story. These people just collude to extract more money out of the city for themselves and their union in the form of dues. These people aren't whistleblowers—they are disgruntled employees who are complaining about having to pay for their own retirements like everyone else out here—-then we have to pay for theirs on top of it. How defensible is that in this time of economic woes?
I suppose it depends on which frivolous Freedom of Information Act request you like. That is how we found out about the salaries of city employees so they couldn't cry poormouth anymore. You certainly ran with that story. FOIA is a cornerstone of our democracy. If you can't see what they are doing and question it then we are simply subjects. I am surprised that your liberal mindset doesn't understand that.
Lastly, I have no idea who the other city council candidate is that you attracted. However, it is those of us who have run who know what the heck is really going on in city hall and it makes us sick. You sound far angrier than I am. Sounds like someone is disgruntled because they lost their source in city hall—Tony Santos. Too bad. Live with it.
As for old, I am willing to bet that you are older than I am and a hippie to boot. How was it back then smoking dope and singing Kumbaya in the commune?
So much for liberalism being about free speech and wanting to get along with everyone. Of course this won't stay posted. The truth hurts too much.
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Are you serious? When 1/4 of the City employees make over $100,000 a year they are middle class. Right. The Easter Bunny should show up at your door tomorrow too.
Even the ones who make less do so with benefits that you could never find in private industry. Health insurance, gold plated pensions and other benefits depending on the job are no where to be found in the private sector. You are lucky to end up with social security in many cases and that is wholly a farce stipend.
I am not going to argue economics with you as I have made my point in the past. You just don't want to admit that we have the best private economic system in the world. You are just going to keep quoting left wing sources that have an axe to grind.
Newspapers don't print their propaganda everyday? Where have you been? They print it every day as long as it keeps coming out. The Daily Review, Oakland Tribune, and even the San Leandro Times. Don't you ever draw the conclusion that when a letter to the editor is printed there are already responses in the same edition? How do you think that happens—ESP?
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Every single one of those who work for San Leandro are in the middle class. If we pay workers less, we will get less skilled, less motivated City servants. Public workers are not the ones who are stealing the money- it's being stolen from them.
Justin, you've been snookered. There is no evidence in your response, just slurs. If news outlets are complicit as you claim, wouldn't there be stories like this in the newspaper EVERY DAY?
“It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent. One response might be to celebrate the ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be misguided. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall. For men with only high-school degrees, the decline has been precipitous—12 percent in the last quarter-century alone. All the growth in recent decades—and more—has gone to those at the top. In terms of income equality, America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride. Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.
Economists long ago tried to justify the vast inequalities that seemed so troubling in the mid-19th century—inequalities that are but a pale shadow of what we are seeing in America today. The justification they came up with was called “marginal-productivity theory.” In a nutshell, this theory associated higher incomes with higher productivity and a greater contribution to society. It is a theory that has always been cherished by the rich. Evidence for its validity, however, remains thin. The corporate executives who helped bring on the recession of the past three years—whose contribution to our society, and to their own companies, has been massively negative—went on to receive large bonuses. In some cases, companies were so embarrassed about calling such rewards “performance bonuses” that they felt compelled to change the name to “retention bonuses” (even if the only thing being retained was bad performance). Those who have contributed great positive innovations to our society, from the pioneers of genetic understanding to the pioneers of the Information Age, have received a pittance compared with those responsible for the financial innovations that brought our global economy to the brink of ruin.
Some people look at income inequality and shrug their shoulders. So what if this person gains and that person loses? What matters, they argue, is not how the pie is divided but the size of the pie. That argument is fundamentally wrong. An economy in which most citizens are doing worse year after year—an economy like America’s—is not likely to do well over the long haul.”
http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105
These stories very rarely nake the news.
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Yes, Tavares, They are wasting time paid for by taxpayers of this city who ELECTED the current mayor. If they have a beef with the city and they are so high skilled as you and your cohorts think they are then they can quit and find another job paying more money somewhere else.
To you a whistleblower is a source for you to write some ridiculous claptrap like this story. These people just collude to extract more money out of the city for themselves and their union in the form of dues. These people aren't whistleblowers—they are disgruntled employees who are complaining about having to pay for their own retirements like everyone else out here—-then we have to pay for theirs on top of it. How defensible is that in this time of economic woes?
I suppose it depends on which frivolous Freedom of Information Act request you like. That is how we found out about the salaries of city employees so they couldn't cry poormouth anymore. You certainly ran with that story. FOIA is a cornerstone of our democracy. If you can't see what they are doing and question it then we are simply subjects. I am surprised that your liberal mindset doesn't understand that.
Lastly, I have no idea who the other city council candidate is that you attracted. However, it is those of us who have run who know what the heck is really going on in city hall and it makes us sick. You sound far angrier than I am. Sounds like someone is disgruntled because they lost their source in city hall—Tony Santos. Too bad. Live with it.
As for old, I am willing to bet that you are older than I am and a hippie to boot. How was it back then smoking dope and singing Kumbaya in the commune?
Oh and thanks for being so pro free speech and deleting my response twice now. That figures.
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Yes, Tavares, They are wasting time paid for by taxpayers of this city who ELECTED the current mayor. If they have a beef with the city and they are so high skilled as you and your cohorts think they are then they can quit and find another job paying more money somewhere else.
To you a whistleblower is a source for you to write some ridiculous claptrap like this story. These people just collude to extract more money out of the city for themselves and their union in the form of dues. These people aren't whistleblowers—they are disgruntled employees who are complaining about having to pay for their own retirements like everyone else out here—-then we have to pay for theirs on top of it. How defensible is that in this time of economic woes?
I suppose it depends on which frivolous Freedom of Information Act request you like. That is how we found out about the salaries of city employees so they couldn't cry poormouth anymore. You certainly ran with that story. FOIA is a cornerstone of our democracy. If you can't see what they are doing and question it then we are simply subjects. I am surprised that your liberal mindset doesn't understand that.
Lastly, I have no idea who the other city council candidate is that you attracted. However, it is those of us who have run who know what the heck is really going on in city hall and it makes us sick. You sound far angrier than I am. Sounds like someone is disgruntled because they lost their source in city hall—Tony Santos. Too bad. Live with it.
As for old, I am willing to bet that you are older than I am and a hippie to boot. How was it back then smoking dope and singing Kumbaya in the commune?
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John Evans said…
What evidence do you have for such a claim, Justin?
Where have you been over the last thirty years? City employees and their union have been running this city for years with their contacts to local newspapers and now blogs like this. They release information that is erroneous, false or misleading and it gets printed to their favor. They also try to assassinate the characters of their detractors and marginalize them—just following Rules for Radicals of course.
They have managed quite well for themselves convincing about 60% of the population that they have come to do good and they have done very well for themselves. It is all starting to come apart now as they no longer have a cohesive strangle hold on information. The current economic crisis has shone the light of truth on them and they are scurrying for cover like cockroaches.
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Yes, Tavares, They are wasting time paid for by taxpayers of this city who ELECTED the current mayor. If they have a beef with the city and they are so high skilled as you and your cohorts think they are then they can quit and find another job paying more money somewhere else.
To you a whistleblower is a source for you to write some ridiculous claptrap like this story. These people just collude to extract more money out of the city for themselves and their union in the form of dues. These people aren't whistleblowers—they are disgruntled employees who are complaining about having to pay for their own retirements like everyone else out here—-then we have to pay for theirs on top of it. How defensible is that in this time of economic woes?
I suppose it depends on which frivolous Freedom of Information Act request you like. That is how we found out about the salaries of city employees so they couldn't cry poormouth anymore. You certainly ran with that story. FOIA is a cornerstone of our democracy. If you can't see what they are doing and question it then we are simply subjects. I am surprised that your liberal mindset doesn't understand that.
Lastly, I have no idea who the other city council candidate is that you attracted. However, it is those of us who have run who know what the heck is really going on in city hall and it makes us sick. You sound far angrier than I am. Sounds like someone is disgruntled because they lost their source in city hall—Tony Santos. Too bad. Live with it.
As for old, I am willing to bet that you are older than I am and a hippie to boot. How was it back then smoking dope and singing Kumbaya in the commune?
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Go get them Steve! Anybody against Christmas songs deserves it!
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Agrella, you're chiding employees for “wasting” time acting as whistleblowers, but defending people who waste the city's time with frivolous FOIA requests? How much collective time do you think it took out of the day of every city employee to search for email files from little ol' me?
What is so indefensible? Explain
I'm proud I have attracted another of San Leandro's All-Star Team of City Council Losers. I got two! And they're both angry old conservatives.
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What evidence do you have for such a claim, Justin?
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This is really hilarious when you consider it is coming from Anonymous. The guy that doesn't know the difference between “your” and “you're.”
I also find it interesting how this blog tries to defend the indefensible on a regular basis. Gee, what a shame we have FOIA requests and city employees using city property and city time to propagate propaganda.
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why do you still post under the name “Manuel” we already know your Paul Vargas. you spend alot of time trolling this blog…
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Oh and why has there been no podcast with you and Nick?????
Manuel
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Oh brother, a bit dramatic here Stevie. Once again; BIG BACALAO!
You and the Fatz-Macabre are like Franco Nationalists and the Republican's fighting it out in Spain. Have you been sipping that cheap $3 Port from Big Lots lately?
Manuel
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